Thursday, August 23, 2012

Alisa Flatow Stephen Flatow
The NY Times of August 22 carries a news report about Syrian government efforts to squash support for the insurgents challenging the Assad leadership.

Gunfire and shelling rocked Damascus, Syria, and its suburbs on Wednesday as opponents of President Bashar al-Assad reported a widening campaign by the military to sow fear and death in neighborhoods where the rebels are strong and the government is too weak to assert full control.

Later on we read that this is a deliberate effort to scare the hell out of the non-combatant population in an effort to drive them away from supporting the rebels.

“Terror is the basic approach,” said Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Center for the Middle East. “From the beginning of the uprising the logic was hit and hit hard, punish and scare, and that would be the way to do it.”

Now, of course, this is crazy logic but since when have the Assads been logical about anything? And the tactic does not appear to be working as support for the rebels is unabated.

My take-- it's out and out murder. Assad wants to put as many Syrians in the grave as he can before he is put into his grave.